Taylor Mackenzie will join his brother Tarran on the British Superbike Championship grid at Donington Park this weekend after being snapped up by Tyco BMW in place of Glenn Irwin.
The Scot is currently sitting second in the National Superstock 1000 Championship riding a Bathams Racing-prepared BMW S1000RR, but with Richard Cooper already crowned champion and an 83-point margin back to Lee Jackson in third place with only 100 points up for grabs, Mackenzie has been released for this renewed BSB chance.
The opportunity represents a return to both TAS Racing, for whom he raced in the Supersport class in 2013 and 2014, and to BSB having competed intermittently since 2015 with stints at Team WD-40, Bennetts Suzuki and Moto Rapido Ducati.
“I’d like to thank TAS Racing, BMW, and obviously my Bathams Racing team for allowing me to take up this opportunity,” Mackenzie said. “Donington is only ten minutes from my house and a track I love racing at, so it couldn’t have come at a better time and a better place to jump back on a Superbike.
“The all-new Tyco BMW S1000RR is similar in many areas to my Superstock bike, including the K-Tech Suspension, so that’s a good starting point. I’m really looking forward to being back with the TAS guys, as quite a lot of the personnel are the same as when I last rode for them. It should be good fun.”
“Having worked with Taylor previously and watched his progress in Superstock on the S1000RR, we are looking forward to seeing what we can achieve together in Superbike, on the all-new 2019 S1000RR,”
Brothers Mackenzie double up for Donington Park
Taylor Mackenzie’s return to the BSB grid will see him line up once again alongside Tarran, who is in contention for the 2019 BSB title with McAMS Yamaha having reached the Title Showdown.
Ironically, Taylor replaces Glenn Irwin at Tyco BMW, who had been competing as one-half of the other brother pairing on the BSB grid together with Honda’s Andrew Irwin.
Irwin competed in four rounds for Tyco BMW but was surprisingly dropped with two events of the season remaining amidst talk he has signed for Honda for the 2020 BSB season. It is anticipated he could join Andrew in an all-Irwin pairing riding the CBR1000RR.
